Director: Michael Bailiff, Jacob Perrett, Brad Twigg, Zane Hershberger, Shawn Burkett, Jonathan Patrick Hughes, Jed Brian, Dustin Ferguson, Rocky Gray, Jenn Nangle
Year: 2023
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Anthology
Plot:
Presented by Queen Malvolia, a series of Halloween-themed tales unfold involving various encounters with terrifying figures.
Review:
House of the Mummy-Preparing for a new haunt season, a man operating a scare attraction out of his house decides to utilize a special mummy prop in his decorations only to learn the mummy can come to life and stalks him and others who show up through the house. On the whole, this is a fun if overall predictable feature. The initial setup of the need to decorate the house for the upcoming haunt season following the trouble with his wife and all that goes on there is fun enough and the false scares about his skittish nature falling victim to everything give this some nice atmospheric touches. The actin in general isn’t bad as the gory confrontations with the malevolent creature provide ome likable scenes as the disbelieving victims are continually able to stumble upon it not knowing the truth and the restulting kills get quite fun. It’s just predictable and is easily guessable where it’s all going with few surprises so it’s not too surprising and is a factor to get over.
Lock Smith-Moving into a new house together, a married couple decides to try their luck fixing it up only to find that the mysterious urban legend involving a black-gloved killer living in the house is real and has to fight back against the intruder. This was a pretty enjoyable if somewhat problematic story. The initial setup of the urban legend about the killer living in the house works quite well as the flashbacks to the previous victims are generally fun bringing about solid stalking scenes and gruesome kills. This carries over into the present-day stalking of the main couple who’ve moved in so it’s got a lot of rather likable elements at play. Much like the previous segment though, this is wholly predictable and doesn’t have too many surprises in store as the whole thing plays out the way you’d think being the main issue with it.
Old Man Gross-Heading to a Halloween party, a group of friends decides to pass the time looking into the truth about a local urban legend featuring a strange killer living in a house in town, but when they learn the truth are forced to deal with the killer to escape. This was a pretty disappointing segment that really could’ve been much better. The main idea here is solid if entirely cliche and predictable like so many of the other segments have been as the group of teens looking into an urban legend and finding it to be true is a factor employed in the previous segments already. Besides that, it’s also quite predictable and has no real surprises in what’s going on, and with the characters not being believable in why they’re hanging out around the house after learning he’s there, it feels infuriating at times with how they behave. The gore and kills here are great and carry this one quite easily but the drawbacks to this one are a bit obvious.
Hack-in-the-Box-Coming together with her friends, a group of women decides the time is right to fight back and stop a demonic jack-in-the-box that’s terrorized them before. While this is the shortest segment here, there’s still a lot to like about it. The backstory that gets filled in with the brief running time not allowing for a traditional catch-up on the story as we’re dropped into it already lived-in is a fine touch, the atmospheric touches of being alone in the house with the creature and trying to figure out what to do with it or where it is has some suspenseful moments alongside some great gore effects. It's incredibly brief and really could’ve used a bit more length to stretch out the backstory of what’s going on so it’s not all inferred as it is, but otherwise, there’s not much to dislike here.
Overview: ***.5/5
Likable enough for what it is but filled with some flaws, there’s nothing overtly wrong here even though there are some flaws in most of the segments which keep it down. Those who have appreciated the other entries in the series, are fans of the creative crew, or just generally hardcore anthology enthusiasts will have a lot to like here while most others should heed caution.
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